


Queen of the Night

by SoulOfSalt



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Eldian!Reader, F/M, Female Reader, Female pronouns, First (and last) Kiss, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Intimacy, Last Kiss, Light Angst, Manga & Anime, Marley Arc (Shingeki no Kyojin), No use of y/n, Nurse - Freeform, Nurse!Reader, One Shot, POV Third Person, Reader-Insert, Season 4 Spoilers, Slow Burn, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 00:41:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28876632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SoulOfSalt/pseuds/SoulOfSalt
Summary: (Season 4 spoilers!)During his stay at Liberio’s hospital, Eren meets a nurse who stirs something in him he has never felt before.
Relationships: Eren Yeager/Reader, Season 4 Eren Yeager/Reader
Comments: 7
Kudos: 91





	Queen of the Night

“Hi.” A soft voice reached his ears as he contemplated the other patients in the garden. He turned to look toward the source of the sound. “Do you mind if I sit here?”

It was a nurse. He was sure he had seen her around the hospital but had never talked to her. He’d made sure to keep tabs on as many of the staff as possible.

He looked away and nodded slowly. Any harsh movements caused an intense burst of pain to run through his head due to his recently removed eye.

“Thanks.” She smiled as she took a seat beside him on the bench. She left enough space between them as to not cause any unwanted touch. “My feet are killing me.”

Eren looked at her discreetly as she folded her hands on her lap while closing her eyes for a second. She took a deep breath, her soft smile growing slightly before she opened them once more to look at him.

“I love the smell of jasmine,” she said to him while gesturing at the bushes near them before introducing herself. “What’s your name?”

He was sure she already knew who he was supposed to be but decided to answer her, seeing she was trying to be polite.

“Kruger…”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Mr. Kruger.”

The two of them sat in silence for some minutes while he pretended to stare blankly at the grass in front of him. He was actually completely aware of everything around him. 

She took out a watch from a  pocket in the blue skirt of her nurse uniform and opened it with a soft click. She sighed softly and stood up.

“Duty calls.” She smiled once more at him as she smoothed down her clothes. “I have to leave, but before I do, is there anything you need?”

He pondered on the question for far longer than necessary, but she waited for his answer patiently. He knew practically nothing about the nurse and needed to assess her physical abilities in case he ever needed to fight her. He could only think of one way to do so.

“I… I need-” He spoke slowly as if each word refused to leave his lips. All part of the charade he had to keep “H-hel…” he pretended to struggle with the word.

“Help?”

“Yes.” A pause and he frowned, acting as if searching for the next word. “Up.” 

“You need help standing up?” she asked, her body shifting slightly to get closer to him. He nodded. “Alright.” 

She approached his left side after grabbing the crutch on his right and hooking it around her left arm, she moved seemingly slowly, as if dealing with a wild animal. 

She sat down next to him once more before speaking, her voice even softer than before, as she showed him her left hand, now curled in a fist with her fingers facing downward.

“I need you to cover my fist with your left hand, can you do that?” He didn't answer but did as she had told him. “Very well. Now I’m going to put my arm around you, is that alright?”

He took a moment to answer. She was making sure he was comfortable and she didn’t trigger him. Her behavior brought him memories of his first day at the hospital and how those Marleyan soldiers had laughed at the horrors the Eldians with him had suffered.

“Yes.”

“Perfect.” Another smile. He couldn’t help but notice the small dimple that formed on her left cheek as she did. She wrapped her arm around his midsection “Now, on the count of three we’ll stand up. You can help yourself stand by pushing on the bench. You ready?” 

He nodded as he pressed his right hand on the cold stone of the bench.

“One… Two… Three!”

She pulled him into a standing position with a surprising amount of strength and quickly handed him the crutch as he leaned against her. 

“You… You’re st-stronger than-”

“Than I look?” she laughed. “Yeah, I get that a lot.”

“...sorry.”

“No! It’s okay,” she reassured him as she helped him walk toward the hospital building. “I have to be strong for a job like this. I usually have to help people who weigh twice as much as me. And I also have to be able to handle the ones that tend to get more physical.”

They stepped inside the building, and his eye had to get used to the shift in light. The sun was setting, and the hospital staff hadn’t turned the lights on yet thanks to the golden rays filtering through the windows.

“Do you want me to help you to your room?”

He nodded.

“Do you know the number of your room?”

“Yes. It’s… Mmm…” He was getting tired of having to pretend to barely being able to talk. 

“It’s okay if you can’t remember. I can ask Katrina, the receptionist.”

“Th-Thi-Thirteen.”

After congratulating Eren for his ‘success’ at being able to recall the number of his room she started guiding him toward it. He noticed her arm hadn’t left his side, and he silently appreciated her help. 

He didn’t interact with the nurse again until a week later, but he managed to catch glimpses of her around the hospital, mostly at the gardens, taking care of other patients. 

She was kind, far kinder than some of the other staff. She never turned to violence, not even with the more vicious patients. He had seen how one of them, a man twice her size, had struck her during a fit. Her head had turned sharply, and she had stumbled a few steps backward. When one of the soldiers in charge of security had approached the pair, ready to discipline the patient, she had asked them not to intervene. Then, she had walked toward him carefully with calming words until the patient had settled down, curling around himself on the floor. She had wrapped her arms around him and rocked the man, like a mother to her child.

“Good morning, Mr. Kruger,” she said as she entered his bedroom after softly knocking on his door, her voice bringing him back to the present. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” He was sitting on his unmade bed, staring through the window.

“I’m glad.” She smiled at him and looked down at a piece of paper she was holding in her hand.

He stared at her, taking in her appearance. Her hair was held by the standard white cloth all nurses wore, but some strands had managed to escape it and fell around her face. It looked soft, and its colour complimented her eyes. 

It suited her. 

She absentmindedly licked her lips and his eyes wandered upwards. There was a scab on her lower lip, clearly a result of her confrontation with the violent patient two days earlier. She took her eyes away from the paper and looked at him, their gazes meeting for a moment before he looked away.

“Your assigned nurse has fallen ill, so I’ll be taking care of you for some days until they get better,” she explained to him. “Seeing that you have already dressed yourself, I’ll take a look at your eye.”

After caring for the area where his left eye should have been (she had told him it was healing nicely, something he was making sure of with his titan powers) she had helped him sit on the small desk in the corner of his room and given him his breakfast. 

While he ate, she busied herself tidying his room up as she softly hummed an unfamiliar tune as she worked. He had never heard the song, yet had the memory of it. It was probably from Eren Kruger or his father. If he tried hard enough, he could see a blonde woman happily dancing as she sang. Dina Fritz.

“What are you humming?”

“Oh, sorry,” she apologized, startled by his voice. “It’s a force of habit. I’m sorry if I bothered you.”

“You didn’t,” he brought the cup of tea she had given him to his lips and took a sip, the liquid slightly stinging his tongue. “What was the song you were humming?”

“It’s a song my mother taught me, she used to sing it in celebrations with the Eld- with friends.”

He noticed the way she had nervously changed her words, a slightly panicked look on her eyes as she stared at him, her usual soft and relaxed smile now tight and forced. He decided not to comment on it and instead asked her another question.

“Would you sing it for me?”

She visibly relaxed at his words and let out a breath through her nose before turning around and resuming her work. He noted how her hands still trembled slightly as she made his bed. What was it that she was hiding?

“Maybe some other day, Mr. Kruger,” her tone was light, but the way her eyes darted from side to side betrayed her apparent easiness. 

The next morning, she appeared in his room with not only his breakfast and medication, but also a small bouquet of flowers. She greeted him with a wide smile and quickly set everything on his desk, hurrying to help him stand up. 

“Flowers from a lover?” he couldn’t help but ask. Surely a young woman like her received many flowers from potential suitors, that is, if she wasn’t already married. One discreet look at her fingers revealed she wasn’t wearing a ring. The probability remained, though.

“Oh, no! The only flowers I get always share both the same sender and receiver. Myself, if that wasn’t clear,” she laughed, shaking her head as her cheeks reddened. “But no, these are for you.”

“For me?” 

“Yes. I like bringing flowers to my patients; they usually make them happy, so I decided to bring some to you,” she said as she put them with the utmost care in a jug filled with water and set them on his desk. “You have this sad look in your eyes that...”

He stared at her, seemingly unconcerned by the unsaid words that hung heavily in the air. But he knew. He knew he looked unhappy. He wondered for a second when was the last time he had smiled.

He couldn’t remember.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that,” she said looking at him for an instant before turning around and walking towards his bed, the long skirt of her uniform brushing his leg. 

“It’s okay,” he spoke after a long period of silence. “I like the flowers. Thank you.”

Eren examined them as he ate his breakfast. Most of them were wildflowers, clearly hand-picked, taking into account its somewhat messy appearance. The white jasmine flowers stood out from the rest of the bouquet. He’d seen some on his walks around the premises, hiding between the weeds in the hospital’s gardens. He could easily picture her collecting them with that soft smile he was starting to love on her face. 

He breathed in deeply, taking in the scent of the jasmines, hazy memories of distant pain being overtaken by the image of a soft smile and a flowy skirt.

* * *

“Do you need help shaving?” 

He was sitting on his desk with a blade on his hand (why the hospital staff trusted a patient with one, he didn’t know) and the rest of the shaving set spread on its surface. He was about to refuse when she spoke again. “I know measuring distances with just one eye can be difficult, and we wouldn’t want to see such a handsome face get cut.”

He faltered for a second at her words. Had he been the same boy from four years ago, he would have surely blushed. He wasn’t, and so he ignored the feeling her compliment brought him.

He couldn’t help but accept her offer, though, much to his own surprise.

She took the blade from him, their fingers brushing slightly, making her give him a shy smile. She wet the brush resting on the desk and started applying shaving cream on his face with it. The strokes were slow and soft, feeling almost like a caress.

Eren briefly entertained the thought of closing his eyes and simply relaxing for once. He wouldn’t, of course. After all, the woman in front of him had a blade she could easily use to cut his throat open.

When he was with her, there were times he forgot that the both of them were actually enemies. That he was Eren Jaeger; the Attack Titan, the one who stole the Founding Titan. A demon from Paradis.

“I’ve noticed you usually style your facial hair, do you want me to shave it in a similar fashion?” 

Her question brought him out of his train of thought.

“Yes.”

“Better,” she laughed softly as she tilted his head backward and brought the blade close to his face. “I find it hard shaving the mustache area. I’m always afraid I’ll slip up and end up cutting the poor person’s nose off.”

Eren tensed slightly as she pressed the razor to his skin softly, but tried to relax as she began sliding it against it. He trained her eye on her face as she worked. She looked concentrated, with a small frown and her lips pursed. He felt his muscles loosen, but he remained alert.

Once finished, she brought a wet cloth to his face, and gently wiped any excess of shaving cream from his face, her hand lingering for a fraction of a second. He really wished he could let go for a moment and truly enjoy her touch before her warm skin left his, the room now feeling much colder for such a simple change. The faint memory of jasmine floated through the air.

* * *

They were sitting in the gardens once more. She had been making her way out of them when he had noticed her and called her over. She wasn’t wearing her uniform, but a simple blouse and a skirt. The small, barely noticeable, flashes of skin of her exposed ankles that peeked from underneath it as she walked revealed this skirt was slightly shorter than her nurse uniform. His attention was drawn to her hair as he studied her appearance; it was his first time seeing it completely uncovered. It really did suit her.

She had sat beside him, this time much closer than the day they had met, and they had talked for a while before falling into a comfortable silence. 

He watched her rest. Her mouth was curved into a relaxed smile and her eyes closed as she enjoyed the last rays of sun of the day. Her skin seemed to glow and Eren wondered if that was what looking at a masterpiece felt like.

“I want to give you something,” he spoke, and she hummed, taking a second before opening her eyes and turning to face him.

“It’s nothing, really,” he added in a quiet voice, feeling slightly insecure for the first time in a long time. He reached to his left, grabbed what he had left there before and offered it to her. “I saw it earlier and remembered you told me how much you loved their smell.”

In his hand was a single jasmine flower. He would have loved to give her many more, but it had been really difficult for him to crouch and keep his balance while picking the lone flower. 

She opened her mouth to say something, but closed it quickly, a flustered look on her face as she gazed at him with a glimmer in her eyes.

He raised the hand that held the small white flower, his fingers brushing the side of her face as he tried tucking it behind her ear. He failed to do so, not being able to aim correctly due to his missing eye. With a soft chuckle she grabbed his wrist and guided him.

Her fingers stayed wrapped around him even after he had pulled his hand away from her face. They felt oh so soft and cool against his naturally hotter skin. She brushed her thumb against his pulse point.

“Thank you,” she whispered softly as her thumb glided toward the palm of his hand ever so slowly. 

He hummed and curled his fingers around hers once they intertwined. A silent acceptance of everything left unsaid .  The way her smile grew and her face flushed made an ache appear on his chest, and he found himself wanting to smile.

* * *

“I see you’ve made a friend,” she said as she sat down beside him while looking at Falco’s retreating figure. “Was that one of the Warrior candidates?”

“Yes. His name is Falco Grice,” he explained as he shifted his hand resting on the bench so his pinky brushed hers. She noticed, and linked them together.

“What do you know him from?”

She turned to look at him once the boy left her field of view, her full attention on Eren.

“I fell on my first day here, and he helped me. He visits me from time to time.”

“He seems like a good kid. What a pity,” she said, the last part barely a whisper. 

“What did you say?”

“Nothing nothing,” she responded quickly while laughing nervously.

“No. You said ‘what a pity’. What did you mean by that?”

“It’s just that…” she seemed to hesitate before answering him. “If he becomes a Warrior, he won’t get to have a long life.”

“Inheriting one of the nine titans is an honor. Are you saying the life of an Eldian kid is more important than the fate of our motherland?” his voice was low, only meant to be heard by her. He unlinked his finger from hers and felt her become rigid. 

He needed to know where she stood, could she be a potential ally on his mission? From the looks he had seen her throw at Marleyan officers when she thought no one was looking, it seemed likely.

He had been thinking about what she had almost said that day in his room and why she had looked so panicked.  _ The Eldian Restorationists _ . That’s what she had meant to say. The fact that all his memories (not his, but his father’s) in regards to the song she had been humming involved the doctor’s brothers in arms only confirmed his suspicions.

“O-of course not! I would never-”

He brought a hand to her knee, bringing her anxious ramble to a stop. 

She was terrified, anyone could tell, but that was not the only feeling flowing through her. As he looked into her eyes, he could see a dangerous glint in them, one that reminded him of himself. She was angry. 

No. 

She was furious.

Furious with the world she had been forced to live in. Furious with the fate of her people. Furious with herself, for not being able to do anything about it.

They stared at each other.

He wanted to tell her everything. Who he was, why he was there and, most importantly, what was about to happen in a mere few days. He wanted her safe.

“I also want him to live,” he said quietly.

She closed her eyes as she took a trembling deep breath, her throat visibly constricting for a second as she did so. She put her hand over his, squeezing it tightly before releasing it. The gleam in her eyes when she opened them once again was more determined than ever, and the smile she offered him seemed both elated and feral, her bared teeth reminding him of his own titan form.

She stirred something in him he had never experienced before. He knew what it was, though, one look at the memories of the other Attack Titan holders was all he needed to make sure.

“I need to tell you something,” both of them spoke at the same time.

“In your room,” she added and stood up, offering him her hand to help him stand up.

As they walked, he noticed her putting on her usual careless smile, as if nothing had just happened. The strong grip she kept on him said otherwise. 

Once in his room she rushed to his window and drew the curtains closed while he hobbled towards his bed and sat down. He looked at her expectantly, and she took a step toward him with determination, though he noticed the way her chest rose and fell in quick breaths.

She sat down next to him, close, so very close, her knee pressed to his right one. She was nervous, he could tell by the way she avoided looking him in the eye. When she clutched the fabric of her white apron in her fists, he reached for one of her hands and caressed her knuckles with his thumb.

“I… I need you to swear to me… Swear to me that you won’t tell a soul of this,” she whispered as she finally met his eye.

“I swear.” He tightened his hold on her hand, encouraging her to continue talking.

She took a deep breath and stared at their intertwined hands.

“My… My parents were part of the Eldian Restorationists with Grisha Jaeger,” she whispered, her voice so low it was practically inaudible. “When the group was… dismantled, they weren’t caught and managed to continue working from the shadows for almost ten years.” A pause. “I was eight when they were executed,” her words seemed to drip with venom. “I don’t know why they spared me.”

The air in the room felt heavy once she fell silent. He decided to break it with his own revelation, he was sure it would let her know her secret was safe with him. 

“My name is not Kruger. I’m Eren Jaeger.” At his words, her eyes flew to his, widening. “I’m the son of Grisha Jaeger.”

“You… Y-You are…”

“A Paradis demon.”

She stayed silent, her mouth opening and closing as she stared at him, as if she were seeing him for the first time, and, in a way, she was. 

“I’ve come to put an end to all of this.”

Before he knew it, she had thrown herself at him, taking him by surprise. He readied himself to shove her away and immobilize her, until he felt her arms enveloping him, and heard her whispering a series of ‘thank you’s over and over again. He was unsure of how to react, but opted to hug her back. 

She leaned away and cupped his face with both of her hands. He marvelled at her wide smile, and he couldn’t stop himself from thinking it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. 

* * *

“You can’t go to tonight’s festival,” he had told her as soon as he had seen her that day, urgently.

“What? What's wrong?”

“I need you to stay as far away from it as possible,” he added, ignoring her. “If you want to be safe, you have to listen to me.”

She had looked scared, but had nodded nonetheless, without questioning him. He had pressed his forehead to hers, breathing in deeply. Her hand had found the back of his head, tangling her fingers in his hair, and they had stayed like that for an indefinite amount of time before both of them decided to go back to acting as if everything was fine.

Now, he was standing near the hospital’s gates with Falco, waiting for her to appear. He had to leave soon, but couldn't do so without seeing her one last time. 

There she was, walking hurriedly in his direction with a worried look on her face. It was clear she had found the note he had left her asking her to meet him before he left.

“Er-Kruger! You can’t, please-” 

“You know I do.”

“But-”

“It has to be done.” His tone of voice was final. “Falco,” the boy perked at the mention of his name. “Can you give us a moment?”

“O-of course, Mr. Kruger!”

As Falco stepped away from the pair, she gripped his forearms desperately, her face twisted with anguish. He hated it.

“Please. Stay.” 

The way she begged him was without conviction. She knew as well as him he had to leave. He couldn’t remain with her if they wanted anything to change. As much as he wished he could.

“I can’t.”

She took a shaky breath and stepped closer to him, her hands sliding toward his upper arms. She tilted her head upward and closed her eyes. 

Her lips met his hesitantly, barely brushing against each other, before she moved away. He put his hand on her cheek quickly, almost without realizing, and leaned forward, pressing his forehead to hers and closing his eye.

His fingers slipped beneath the cloth covering her head, tangling them with her hair as he brought her closer to him. Their lips brushed once more as he waited for her to take the last step.

She pressed herself against him, careful not to make him fall, and kissed him. He responded instantly, not wanting to waste a second of what could be their first and last kiss. If everything went according to plan that night, it wouldn't be. He’d made sure of that.

Her left hand rose to his cheek, while her right one went to his waist to support him in case he lost his balance. The fact that she kept caring about his well-being, even in the position they were in, made his already racing heart beat even harder.

He felt her trembling against him and, before he knew it, she was crying. Her lips parted from his to let out a soft sob before returning to him. He moved away, shushing her softly as he wiped the few tears that had managed to leave her. He then pressed a kiss under each of her eyes.

“Everything will be alright,” he whispered to her, still aware of Falco’s presence. The boy had turned away to give them some sort of privacy, but he wasn’t far enough not to hear Eren if he spoke normally. “I’ll come back for you when all of this is over. But you know I have to keep moving forward.”

She nodded silently, opening her eyes and looking longingly at him. She grabbed the hand cradling her face and pressed her lips to his palm. He brought her close to him again, his arm wrapping around her body as he kissed her forehead. Her grip on his waist tightened as he did so.

When they parted he took a moment to commit her to memory, and, as if knowing what he was doing, she gave him that soft smile. The same smile she had given him the day they had met, only this time it was accompanied by a hue of love and melancholy in her eyes.

He hoped to be able to immortalize her and the way she made him feel, so that the next holder of the Attack Titan would be able to look back at his memories of her and find the comfort she brought him.

He stepped away slowly, reluctantly. 

“I will see you again,” she said with a trembling voice, without hesitation, as if there was no other possible way for them.

It was a promise.

He nodded.

He turned around and moved toward Falco, not daring to look back at her. 

“Are you ready, Mr. Kruger?”

“Yes.”

As they slowly made their way through the crowded streets, Eren couldn’t help but think of the way she had looked at him in those last moments. It made him wish he could turn around and stay with her.

But he had to keep moving forward. 

Keep moving forward until his enemies were destroyed.

**Author's Note:**

> So… This happened.
> 
> I just finished my finals but I wrote this during them, a 4Kish-word one-shot about Season 04 Eren, like a dumbass.
> 
> Anyways
> 
> I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it!


End file.
